McGrady's GOP challenger no conservative

Published: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 at 3:32 p.m.

State Rep. Chuck McGrady has a Republican primary campaign challenge from the left, with his challenger standing with the status quo education establishment.

That challenge comes from Mr. Ronnie Edwards, a retired DMV investigator and spouse of Henderson County School Board member Lisa Edwards.

Before looking at the candidates more closely, I want to look at last month’s teacher pay raise announcement to put the current state of education politics into context.

GOP leaders, including McGrady, announced in February that they were confident enough of money in the bank to vault salaries for teachers in their first through eighth year of their career by between 12 percent and 14 percent. That will jump those salaries from their 7-year-long standstill up to the national average and above all of our Southern neighbors.

Why the use the money “in the bank” on years one-eight as the first step and not the more veteran teachers first? Simple. We were the furthest behind the national average in those years and losing the largest percentage of teachers in those years.

And as Gov. McCrory said at the event where this was announced, if the budget numbers continue to hold firm with no more Medicaid crises, then the hope is to expand raises in the next steps to the ranks of the veterans who are also seven years overdue.

For anyone on the left about to state again that if “N.C. hadn’t turned down the Medicaid money from Obamacare then we would have had the money for raises last year,” I point out that one has zero to do with the other. Fact: Expanding Medicaid to new individuals by using federal funds is not the same pot of money as what it takes to make up for the state portion of pre-Obamacare federally mandated Medicaid obligations.

You can feel the Democratic resentment that it is the GOP taking the first giant step to make up for the last seven years (most of them during 100 percent Democratic control of Raleigh) of stagnant teachers’ pay.

Tellingly, the North Carolina Democratic Party hasn’t said a word — no news release at all. Normally, McCrory can’t announce a new bridge name without a scathing NCDP response.

Mr. Edwards’ response was very disappointing. He called the raises “election-year posturing”. I doubt the 42,000 N.C. teachers receiving the double-digit percentage raises consider it “posturing”.

Mr. Edwards was a registered Democrat the past few decades, not switching until before the 2012 election, and his only political donation ever (in ’95) was to the NCDP. He and I spoke by phone and he told me that he was registered as a Democrat “because as a state employee, they felt pressure to register that way” and the donation was likewise a “suggestion” from above.

I do not know Mr. Edwards, so I start with the assumption that the above is true, and he is not the first person I’ve had tell me about such “suggestions” to state employees under Govs. Easley and Perdue.

The part of Mr. Edwards’ political history that is not as clearly explained, however, is his voting history. He has not missed voting in a Democratic primary going back as far as public records can tell.

Showing up and actually voting in the party primary every two years, as I told Mr. Edwards, was the one part of the political pressure system I had never heard of. Mr. Edwards told me that he “wanted to vote and that was the choice available to me.”

Voting every two years in a party primary if you secretly don’t plan on voting for any of those same people come November does not makes sense to me.

On school choice, Mr. Edwards said in his first new release that he is against the GOP choice program and that “taxpayer dollars should not fund private schools.” Of course, as conservatives we do not see that we are “funding private schools.” We see the program giving tax dollars to the poorest of families in the worst of schools (none of which are in Henderson County) to spend those dollars where they see fit. As we predicted, more than 70 percent of those who have applied so far have come from urban, minority families.

Mr. Edwards is also on the wrong side of tenure reform. I asked him several times for a “yes” or a “no” answer on whether he agreed with the GOP repeal of tenure, and he would only reply, “I support due process.” ’ll take that as a “no.”

McGrady, on the other hand, was not only a part of the raft of reforms Republicans passed this year, but he took a lead on many of them.

Voter ID, tax cuts for every income bracket, expanding state lands for hunting, tort reform, school choice, tenure reform, as well as key local economic projects, including landing Sierra Nevada and making key capital improvements at DuPont State Forest — those are all on McGrady’s resume.

As he always has, McGrady continues to follow his own lead, especially on environmental issues (where I tend to agree with his stances). I find that the conservative electorate here has long since respected that that is part of who McGrady is and that he never tries to blur his positions with baloney-speak.

I predict that on primary day, a landslide of voters will send McGrady back to Raleigh.

Robert Danos is a Hendersonville resident and former spokesman for the 11th District NCGOP. Reach him at robertdanos@outlook.com.

<p>State Rep. Chuck McGrady has a Republican primary campaign challenge from the left, with his challenger standing with the status quo education establishment.</p><p>That challenge comes from Mr. Ronnie Edwards, a retired DMV investigator and spouse of Henderson County School Board member Lisa Edwards.</p><p>Before looking at the candidates more closely, I want to look at last month's teacher pay raise announcement to put the current state of education politics into context.</p><p>GOP leaders, including McGrady, announced in February that they were confident enough of money in the bank to vault salaries for teachers in their first through eighth year of their career by between 12 percent and 14 percent. That will jump those salaries from their 7-year-long standstill up to the national average and above all of our Southern neighbors.</p><p>Why the use the money “in the bank” on years one-eight as the first step and not the more veteran teachers first? Simple. We were the furthest behind the national average in those years and losing the largest percentage of teachers in those years.</p><p>And as Gov. McCrory said at the event where this was announced, if the budget numbers continue to hold firm with no more Medicaid crises, then the hope is to expand raises in the next steps to the ranks of the veterans who are also seven years overdue.</p><p>For anyone on the left about to state again that if “N.C. hadn't turned down the Medicaid money from Obamacare then we would have had the money for raises last year,” I point out that one has zero to do with the other. Fact: Expanding Medicaid to new individuals by using federal funds is not the same pot of money as what it takes to make up for the state portion of pre-Obamacare federally mandated Medicaid obligations.</p><p>You can feel the Democratic resentment that it is the GOP taking the first giant step to make up for the last seven years (most of them during 100 percent Democratic control of Raleigh) of stagnant teachers' pay.</p><p>Tellingly, the North Carolina Democratic Party hasn't said a word — no news release at all. Normally, McCrory can't announce a new bridge name without a scathing NCDP response.</p><p>Mr. Edwards' response was very disappointing. He called the raises “election-year posturing”. I doubt the 42,000 N.C. teachers receiving the double-digit percentage raises consider it “posturing”.</p><p>Mr. Edwards was a registered Democrat the past few decades, not switching until before the 2012 election, and his only political donation ever (in '95) was to the NCDP. He and I spoke by phone and he told me that he was registered as a Democrat “because as a state employee, they felt pressure to register that way” and the donation was likewise a “suggestion” from above.</p><p>I do not know Mr. Edwards, so I start with the assumption that the above is true, and he is not the first person I've had tell me about such “suggestions” to state employees under Govs. Easley and Perdue.</p><p>The part of Mr. Edwards' political history that is not as clearly explained, however, is his voting history. He has not missed voting in a Democratic primary going back as far as public records can tell.</p><p>Showing up and actually voting in the party primary every two years, as I told Mr. Edwards, was the one part of the political pressure system I had never heard of. Mr. Edwards told me that he “wanted to vote and that was the choice available to me.”</p><p>Voting every two years in a party primary if you secretly don't plan on voting for any of those same people come November does not makes sense to me.</p><p>On school choice, Mr. Edwards said in his first new release that he is against the GOP choice program and that “taxpayer dollars should not fund private schools.” Of course, as conservatives we do not see that we are “funding private schools.” We see the program giving tax dollars to the poorest of families in the worst of schools (none of which are in Henderson County) to spend those dollars where they see fit. As we predicted, more than 70 percent of those who have applied so far have come from urban, minority families.</p><p>Mr. Edwards is also on the wrong side of tenure reform. I asked him several times for a “yes” or a “no” answer on whether he agreed with the GOP repeal of tenure, and he would only reply, “I support due process.” 'll take that as a “no.”</p><p>McGrady, on the other hand, was not only a part of the raft of reforms Republicans passed this year, but he took a lead on many of them.</p><p>Voter ID, tax cuts for every income bracket, expanding state lands for hunting, tort reform, school choice, tenure reform, as well as key local economic projects, including landing Sierra Nevada and making key capital improvements at DuPont State Forest — those are all on McGrady's resume.</p><p>As he always has, McGrady continues to follow his own lead, especially on environmental issues (where I tend to agree with his stances). I find that the conservative electorate here has long since respected that that is part of who McGrady is and that he never tries to blur his positions with baloney-speak.</p><p>I predict that on primary day, a landslide of voters will send McGrady back to Raleigh.</p><p><b>Robert Danos is a Hendersonville resident and former spokesman for the 11th District NCGOP. Reach him at robertdanos@outlook.com.</p>